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Indian
Cuisine
by
: Mehru Jaffer
When people outside
of the country think of Indian food, images of red, hot curries and
spiced legs of lamb, chicken, and bread baked in clay ovens come to
mind. Needless to say that there is much more to Indian food than just
curries. In fact the cuisine of India is as varied and as diverse as
the country of one billion itself.
The valley of Kashmir
lying in the lap of snow clad mountains in the north is indeed famous
for rich lamb curries wrapped generously in yoghurt and spices that
help to keep the body warm while the kitchens in the tropical states
of southern India specialise in a lot of yoghurt, vegetables and
lentil dishes, accompanied with the extract from tamarind that has a
cooling effect on the body.
But eating out was
never really part of Indian culture till very recently and since the
first restaurants were started by some enterprising Punjabi people of
north India, the menu they offered initially has remained the standard
food found at most Indian eating houses around the world, including
Jakarta. The best place for a sub continental meal is still in the
home of an Indian. And now even those who eat at restaurants know
this, their tastes having been transformed after several bites of the
real thing. Today they are quick to express their exhaustion at the
monotony of menus available and are demanding a more varied fare.
Besides many are also
on the look out for a more office-friendly, and less
difficult-to-digest alternative to a cholesterol-rich, non-vegetarian
meal, especially at mid-day. A hot favourite to steam out from the
kitchens of south India therefore is the dosa which may have been a
snack in ancient times but is happily consumed as a meal in itself
today.
"To call a dosa
a pancake would be to do it no justice at all," says Madhur
Jaffrey author of A Taste of India, of the thin, round plate made from
a batter of fermented parboiled rice and split peas stuffed with a
mixture of spicy potatoes and peas and rolled up into a pipe made of
shimmering gold. This delicacy is gloriously served with a lentil and
vegetable soup along with many a mouth watering dip.
Idlis or ferrmented
rice batter steamed into spongy, white cakes and eaten with the same
hot lentil soup is yet another delight from the same provinces of the
south. And the good news is that now both dosa and idli are available
here in plenty at many a restaurant.
Thanks to Sarita
Shamdasani a rather sumptuous meal of south Indian delicacies was
enjoyed here last week at the Queen's Tandoor. In between sips of
cardamom flavoured tea and spoonful of lentil soup Sarita said that
she was born and brought up in Indonesia and for a long time Chinese
food was her favourite cuisine. It was only 15 years ago after husband
Ramesh asked her to help him start a restaurant that she travelled to
India to find out what people in the land of her ancestors ate.
"Ramesh made
some films that did not do well at the box office. He wanted to wind
up his business in film production and open a restaurant
instead," recalls Sarita.
Queen's started as a
Chinese restaurant on Jalan Veteran and introduced Indian food a
decade ago, specialising at first in food that the sprawling Sindi
community here was terribly nostalgic for. Sindis had left their home
in western India in large numbers many generations ago to come here in
search of better trade. As members of this community prospered they
liked to eat out and to spend some leisure time at places like Queen's
to chatter away in the language of their forefathers and for a taste
of what they recalled was cooked in their grandmother's kitchen.
Sarita belongs to one such family.
But her business
really picked up, she says, when the restaurant moved last year to
Permata Plaza on Jalan Thamrin attracting a more varied crowd due to
its more convenient location offering both north, and south Indian
fare. Even today it is mostly Indians who ask for dosas and idlis at
Queens's. But often guests from western countries see people on other
tables enjoying a south Indian meal and they want to try it too,
Sarita observed.
Her reputation for
providing authentic food from different regions of the Indian sub
continent is also on the rise as she caters for numerous private
parties held almost daily. With more and more people preferring to eat
out and less and less wanting to cook for themselves, Sarita is
considered a blessing in disguise. At a dosa and idli party, Sarita
will arrange for an entire stove to travel along with the gigantic
hotplate on which a dosa is prepared one by one and offered to each
guest piping hot, straight off the fire. The result is that word about
the goodness of the food that she offers is spreading fast.
"We are
operating like a food factory these days. It is not just south Indian
meals that we prepare but have equipped ourselves to provide food from
any province in the Indian sub-continent. You name the food and we
promise to put it on your table," adds Janum enthusiastically,
Sarita's young daughter-in-law. Queen's in fact is run as a family
business with Ramesh and their two sons taking care of practicalities
at the two outlets at Permata Plaza and Ambhara Hotel while Sarita and
Janum are left to concentrate on spicing up each order as if they were
putting together a meal in their own private kitchen, for themselves.
It is little wonder
then that guests are seen thronging at Queen's as if they were paying
homage to their own kitchen.
All inquiries
regarding reservation and catering can be made from Jalan MH Thamrin
Kav 57 at telephone number 3903287, fax 3903286 and email queens@pacific.net.id
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